Here’s a nice image of him in the form of a 1972 In-Action card I put together yesterday:
As a baseball player he put in 17-years of all-star play, winning 20 games once, but putting together four 19-win seasons along with three 17-win seasons, while leading his league in strikeouts three times and shutouts twice.
The seven-time all-star threw a no-hitter in each league, with his National League no-no a perfect game against the New York Mets in 1964.
He also won 100-games in each league, becoming the first to do so since the great Cy Young at the beginning of the 20th Century.
In 1996, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining contemporaries such as Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax and Whitey Ford.
By then he was already a Representative of Kentucky’s 4th District for nine years before becoming a State Senator in 1999, a position he would hold until January 2011.
A great life to say the least. Though I like to think of it as incredible actually. To do any ONE of these things he accomplished is a life’s great achievement, and Bunning did them all.
Amazing man.
